Rubber Justice
by Flux Casey
Summary: One month after the Red-Haired Pirates leave Windmill Village, another group of pirates arrive with less civil intentions. The reality of what pirates commonly are sends Luffy down a different path.
1. Chapter 1

"Luffy..." The gruff voice of Marine Vice Admiral Garp growled.

Monkey D. Luffy. At 7 years old he wanted the same thing every 7 year old wanted. He wanted to live his life like every day was a new adventure. To see a new dawn and wonder 'What kind of fun can I have today?". Further, like all 7 year olds, Monkey D. Luffy was highly impressionable. So when a group of pirates arrived in his village and regaled him with tales of all the grand adventures they've had, living freely on the high seas, doing whatever they pleased, he was awestruck. From that alone, he knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. He wanted to be a pirate.

Those very same pirates saving his life not a few days later certainly didn't hurt.

So when his grandfather – a marine and the one to capture the most infamous pirate to ever exist – returned and saw the change that overtook his grandson... Well...

"I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!", Luffy yelled in his grandfather's face.

"LIKE HELL YOU ARE, BRAT!" Garp immediately yelled back, slamming a fist into the top of the boy's head.

Suffice to say, he wasn't taking it well.

It seemed there would be no changing the boy's mind, but that wouldn't stop Garp from trying. There was no way Garp would let his grandson be as much of a disappointment as his son had been. As such, he blackmailed the Dadan mountain bandit clan into taking care of the boy and beating some discipline into him. Teaching him the values of hard work and working for the benefit of others. Perhaps in another story the bandits might have succeeded in doing those things, though there really was no stopping the newly rubberised boy from realising his new dream, no matter how much tough love he was shown.

This, however, is not that story.

For in this story, only one month later, another group of pirates came calling to Windmill Village.

-(-)-

The village was burning. The smells of smoke, ash and blood mixed in the air. A scent so sickening it would leave bystanders choking on it, were their minds not occupied by the terror of the scene. Men with wicked grins and more wicked blades were ransacking the small fishing village, searching homes for any valuables, killing any who resisted and – if they felt particularly vindictive – putting it all to the torch afterwards.

The Captain of these monsters with the faces of men whistled a jaunty tune to himself as he walked down the main road back to the docks. It was an decent haul for such a small town. They must have done trade with that city on the hill. Fish, most likely. The whole place stank of it, though being a pirate it was a scent he was used to. He was particularly glad of his own 'catch of the day'. Some entertainment for the crew so they'd stop bitching at him for a while.

The familiar click of a flintlock pistol being cocked stopped him mid-stride. Slowly, he turned to face his assailant but when he got a good look at him he couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Really? Is this the best defence this village can muster? An old man with an antique pistol?" Looking more closely, he amended his description. "A terrified old man, at that."

The Mayor of Windmill Village, Woop Slap, continued pointing his gun at the invader. He had purchased it after the Red Haired Pirates had shown up, hoping he wouldn't need to use it but fearing the day he would. That day had arrived. "I'm the mayor of this village. I have t-to p-p-protect these people." He put his left hand on the gun to steady his shaking. "Y-You let her go, you take your spoils and you leave. And you'll have no more trouble from us."

The captain's expression and tone suggested he was holding back more laughter. "O-oh, is that so? Hm, sorry I can't do that, friend. See, my crew need Miss... Err, sorry what's your name, love?", he asked the green-haired woman slung over his shoulder. She was unconscious and didn't move or respond. "Hm. Well anyway the crew need her help with some stress relief and she was eager to lend a hand."

"I-I'll shoot! I will!" the mayor warned, not sure himself whether it was true.

The captain shrugged with his free shoulder, "Alright then." before turning to resume his walk back to the ship.

Mayor Woop Slap wasn't overly surprised that this man would just walk away from someone pointing a gun at him. Especially when the man was Woop Slap, unintimidating at the best of times. But he couldn't, he _refused_ to let them hurt his people and get away with it. Desperation warred with fear and in the end it was a draw. As he squeezed the trigger with shaking hands he couldn't keep his eyes open to watch the result.

A resounding _bang_ rang out in the thoroughfare of Windmill Village.

The captain turned and looked at the ground a few feet in front of him to the right and saw a smoking spot where the bullet had struck. He turned further to look back at Woop Slap who still had his eyes shut. "Well, I'll give you points for manning up. But you lose more for your aim. Not to mention you might've hit this pretty thing." he admonished as he patted the woman's head. "Well, there is a method to this sort of thing so..." Slowly he pulled a slim dagger from his belt with his left hand.

Terrified, out of ammunition and faced with his own demise, Woop Slap ran. He got twenty feet before the dagger buried itself into the back of his skull.

"Hm.", the captain mused aloud as he resumed walking. "Double twenty. Not bad for my non-dominant hand."

-(-)-

Luffy was crying. He didn't care about the judgemental looks Ace was giving him as the older boy left to... do whatever he did in the forest when Luffy failed to keep up. It didn't matter to the heartbroken boy.

They hadn't hidden the truth from him, no matter his age. They told him exactly what had occurred and what had happened to Makino and the grumpy old man who yelled at Shanks' crew. When he tried to somehow deny that pirates would do such a thing, a young man walked up to him and dropped a slim, bloodstained dagger at his feet.

They were cursing Shanks' name alongside these other pirates, at the same time thanking the gods that the Red Haired Pirates just weren't in a killing mood.

Luffy knew that wasn't right. Shanks had saved him! He gave up his own arm to do it! There's no way someone who would do that could do what these other pirates did! But his innocent, idealistic words fell on deaf ears.

And so Luffy ran to his room in the Dadan family's home and cried. His innocence stolen, his dream ripped to shreds, he tore Shanks' straw hat from his head and threw it in the corner. It felt like a betrayal to wear it after his new resolution.

-(-)-

Garp had been in a good mood when they were sailing into the docks of Windmill Village. Hopes of Dadan's tender loving care changing his grandson's perspective a little left a grin stretched across his face. That vanished instantly on seeing the state of the village. It had been a bustling fishing village. Dozens of houses and businesses strewn around, people working happily day after day, helping each other, laughing and living together.

That village was now gone. Replaced with a shell of its former self. Half the village was in ruins, clear evidence of it being burned to the ground was visible. Now homeless citizens huddled together under makeshift shelters, lifeless eyes staring out at nothing. Others continued to go about their lives to make ends meet, though those capable of it were working on building new homes for the now disenfranchised folk. As Garp walked through town, reactions to his presence were mixed. Some smiled with obvious relief, knowing an attack couldn't happen with the marines there, especially one of Garp's notoriety. Others looked on with scorn, doubtless blaming the marines for only showing up after the danger had passed, long after they were needed most.

Garp sent his Lieutenant to find Woop Slap. He wanted to know how this happened. A few moments later the Lieutenant returned with a young man with a pencil moustache and a cleft chin much like the mayor's. "Sir! This man says he can point you to Woop Slap, sir."

Garp stroked his beard as he looked at the young man, recognition flashing through his eyes. "I remember you! You're Woop's nephew, right? Loop, was it?"

"Loops." the young man nodded, correcting him. "You were looking for my uncle? He's over there." he said, pointing towards the market square, specifically a a statue that Garp was certain hadn't been there before.

As he approached it was obvious that the statue was made in a rush. It was around four feet tall and not overly detailed. Regardless, it was plain that it was a depiction of Woop Slap in a surprisingly heroic pose for the old mayor, pointing an old pistol at an unseen enemy with determination in his eyes. The plaque beneath it read 'Here lies Mayor Woop Slap. Died defending our home. Never forgotten.'

"I see.", Garp sighed, before adopting his aura of command. "Who's in charge here then?"

"Unofficially, that would be me.", Loops answered.

Garp nodded. "Lieutenant, inform the crew, both you and they are under this man's command for the purpose of getting this village back on its feet. They need lumber? Chop down some trees. They need help with carpentry or construction? You better grab a hammer and nails. Am I understood?"

"Aye aye, sir!" the lieutenant answered immediately with a salute before returning to the ship.

-(-)-

When Garp went searching for Luffy, he found him huddled in the corner of his room, sobbing. "Luffy.", he called out quietly.

Luffy looked up, tear and snot streaked face plain even in the shadows as he sniffed instinctively to clear his nose. "I don't understand.", he whimpered.

Garp leaned against a wall and slid down it to sit next to his grandson. "I didn't want you to know about this, you know. I could've just shown you photos of the aftermath of pirate attacks. The things I've seen..." he trailed off, old buried memories floating to the surface before he shook them away. "I could've made you think twice about this pirate nonsense just that easily. But... A man should have the right to choose his dream."

"I don't care about that." Luffy muttered. "Just... _Why_? They're pirates like Shanks! They could do whatever they want and they use that to hurt people! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

Garp sighed. "Never tell anyone I said this. Especially any marines. Red-Haired Shanks... Is probably one of the best men on the seas. I could never thank him enough for saving you that day. But that's not why I think he's a great man. I respect him because he has all that strength and the freedom to do whatever he wants – he could have levelled this village in an hour – but he never let it go to his head. There are some high-ranking marines for whom I can't say the same." He paused. "Again, don't tell anyone I said that."

"The point is," he continued, "in that way, Shanks is one in a million. Gold Roger inspired a generation to live free on the open seas but if people want that freedom, they have to defend that freedom by force. So these men who decide to live outside the law, they learn to fight. And all of a sudden they not only have freedom, they have _power_. And then that freedom gets twisted into a mockery of the concept. 'No laws' is joined by 'no _morals'_ , and then, well in their minds they really can do anything. Because no one can stop them."

"That's what the marines are for, Luffy." Garp explained. "Not to deny men freedom. It's to put down the men who prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they don't deserve it."

"I could be a good pirate then. Like Shanks is." Luffy said, though it sounded like his heart wasn't in it.

"You could." Garp nodded. "I'd still love you if that's the path you chose. So now that you've seen a bit more of the real world, is that the path you want to follow?"

There was a long, pregnant silence. Garp didn't push, didn't move or say anything. Just let his grandson come to his own conclusion. A man should have the right to choose his dream.

"Grampa. Will you teach me to be a marine?" Luffy asked near inaudibly.

Garp put an arm around him before ruffling his hair. "The finest in the world." He grinned and lifted his grandson to his feet without warning. "Now go get yourself cleaned up. You're coming down to the village with me!"

"What for?" Luffy asked as he wiped at his eyes and nose.

"We're going to rebuild it."

-(-)-

It had taken three days. Loops was astonished.

The marines had proven to be tireless workers and they sped up the reconstruction a great deal. But when Vice Admiral Garp returned with his grandson he took it to a whole other level. One of the carpenters said they saw him chop down a tree with his bare hand and drag it to town himself! They don't come like that in East Blue! The man was a monster!

It wouldn't bring back those they'd lost, but at least the people left behind could mourn their loss in warmth and safety.

On the ship, Luffy was looking over the rail, out to the open sea, holding the straw hat given to him by his hero. He couldn't wear it anymore. He knew that. But at the very least, he could return it to its rightful owner.

-(-)-

A/N: Two years of thinking about it I finally get this down on (metaphorical) paper. So I read a story called Turnabout a long time ago. Basically a similar concept only without the defining moment for why Luffy would choose the opposite side. Also it clung to canon like a limpet. By the basic plot alone, that should be impossible.

So (assuming I actually get to writing this one again) this will be going in a different direction by necessity. The crew will need to be different. You can't have Usopp the pirate's proud son as a marine. Sanji likewise would be a difficult proposition (if someone has an idea to make it work I'll consider it). And Robin for a multitude of reasons is an impossibility. On the other hand, Zoro and Nami would be easy to include (one hunts pirates anyway and the other loathes them). And Luffy being a marine allows him to recruit characters that would be impossible for a pirate. So Smoker, Tashigi, Hina, Fullbody, even the CP9 agents could be possible. Also Coby. But nobody likes Coby.

Really, with all of these possibilities, _why would anyone imitate canon?_

So... That's that. I'll get back to it when I can.

Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

"Garp... Are you going to tell me exactly what you're playing at?" One would think that it would be difficult to take a man with a stuffed seagull on his head seriously. Somehow though, with a perfectly balanced combination of stern demeanour and patience, Fleet Admiral Sengoku could never be taken for a fool.

Vice Admiral Garp on the other hand... Well, as he yawned and absently cleaned an ear with his finger, it would be difficult to take him for anything _but_ a fool. That was rather the point, of course. But he gave such an impression constantly. Even for people who knew full well how sharp he really was. People like Sengoku.

"Garp..." Sengoku sighed, his normally saintly patience once again evaporating when it came to dealing with Garp. "Why is your eight year old grandson doing scut work on my base?"

"Eh?" Garp asked eloquently as he pulled some monstrosity out of his ear, blowing it off his finger afterward, eventually resorting to flicking it as it revealed itself to be too sticky for his breath to free. "I didn't tell you the good news? My boy Luffy is a marine!" The old Vice Admiral announced proudly, enormous grin on his face.

"The age requirement for enlistment is 12." Sengoku stated, furrowing his brow. "And the powers that be are discussing raising it. How did you get that past recruitment?"

"I told 'em he was just a really late bloomer. They were a little doubtful since he was bouncing around the room but once they found out he was my grandson they stopped asking questions." He folded his arms across his chest. "Heh! I still get all the respect even after so long."

Sengoku elected not to tell Garp that the blood relation between him and the boy probably told the recruiter all they needed to know about why the boy was so unconcerned with propriety. Instead he focused on what was really bothering him. "... Why?"

"Oh, come on. We both know how this works, Sengoku." Garp chided his superior officer twice over. "You enlist in the marines and you start off doing all the crappy chores no one wants to do. I'm just getting that crap out of the way before I get his real training started. He won't have the time, energy or working limbs to do it by then." Garp's grin turned a little vicious before the paradoxical well-meaning malice was gone. "Then I can fast track him through to commissioned officer ranks and he'll be a Captain by 16."

The Fleet Admiral's eyebrow twitched on hearing the entirety of Garp's plan. The man spoke as if there were no flaws in it. Like it would be easy. Well, for Garp it probably would be. But for the boy? "And you want to start this training... When?"

Garp shrugged. "Three years, I guess. Something like that."

The other eyebrow started twitching. "Three years. You expect a ten year old to survive your training after it forced us to medically discharge three of our brightest officer candidates?!"

"Oh, yeah. Focus on the failures, don't even mention the successes. Speaking of, how are Komei and Momousagi doing, anyway?" Garp asked with a false innocent tone, knowing exactly how they were.

Sengoku declined to answer, electing instead to just glare at Garp until he actually tried to defend his plan. Yes, Garp's training reared some spectacular if unconventional marines. If it hadn't the conversation would already be over.

"My boy is strong, Sengoku. He isn't like most recruits. Most show up wanting a steady job with better than average pay. And they get that. The soft-headed ones want to make the world a better place. Then there's the ones like Luffy, who lose people because bad men are allowed to do bad things. And they say 'I won't let this happen to anyone else.' It gives them the kind of drive that you can't find anywhere else."

There was a smirk in Sengoku's voice. "Soft-headed?"

Garp shrugged again. "Look at Sakazuki. Brat's a monster bad as any pirate. All in the name of making the world 'a better place'.

"His name is Akainu." Sengoku corrected flatly, choosing not to comment on the rest of it.

Garp rolled his eyes. It wasn't the first time he ignored that correction and it wouldn't be the last. "Besides. If nothing else, the devil fruit'll keep him alive."

"He has a devil fruit?"

 _'And there it is.'_ Garp thought, knowing full well that would win over the Fleet Admiral. "Yeah, stole it from some red-haired pirate or something. Turned his body to rubber so blunt force won't do much to him. I should probably start with that, right? He learns to dodge blunt weapons, then when he starts to get overconfident we bring out the swords and BAM! … Or... slice? Maybe shink. Shink is a swordy sound, right?" Garp descended into muttering as he wandered out of the fleet admiral's office. Occasionally yelling random sounds like "SHAPOW!" or "FWOOSH!".

Sengoku, once again alone in his office, sighed. "I'd demote him if I could." He muttered, silently cursing the late pirate king for getting captured by a buffoon.

-(-)-

 _Four years later_

"So you think you have Kami-e (Paper Arts) down, eh Luffy?" Garp asked his grandson, a sinister edge to his usual smile.

Luffy being Luffy, he missed it entirely. "Sure do, Gramps! I'm a rubber leaf on the wind!" Luffy boasted, demonstrating by allowing everything above his knees to go inconsistently limp. It made for movements that looked extremely awkward but allowed for heightened agility and instinctive dodging.

"Good!" Garp bellowed, grabbing Luffy by the neck despite the boy's attempts to evade and throwing him into a dark room, locking the door afterwards. "Not good enough to dodge me yet though!" He laughed. "As punishment, you'll stay in there for the next hour! Don't let the tiger kill you! Remember, you're a rubber leaf on the wind!"

"GRAMPS!"

" **ROOOOOAR**!"

-(-)-

 _One year later_

"Faster!" Garp yelled.

In response, Luffy's legs started kicking at the ground faster, barely even visible.

"Harder! You'll never get moving like that!"

The strain on Luffy's face was painful to see as he tried to increase the power of his kicks without lowering the speed. His skin gained a pink sheen to it and the sweat that covered his body seemed to evaporate.

In an eye blink, Luffy crossed from one end of the short stretch of beach to the other. A distance of 100 yards. He immediately lost balance on stopping, collapsing into the sand and breathing heavily, his skin regaining its normal tan colour. "Gramps!" Luffy gasped out. "Did I do it?"

-(-)-

 _Three years later_

"Well, Luffy? How does it feel?" Garp asked his grandson, eyes shining with pride that could not be contained.

Luffy looked at himself in the mirror. He was awarded his promotion earlier that day. The last one he needed to do what he really wanted; go out and sail the seas, keeping people safe, beating the crap out of evil pirates. He wasn't a fan of the wardrobe though. "It's weird." He muttered, clearly not impressed.

For one thing, the captain coat was enormous, his hands left still deep in the sleeves, the shoulders making him look twice as broad as he really was. The epaulettes (which he mentally dubbed 'mysterious shoulder thingies") looked fancy to the point of being silly. Luffy wasn't one for fancy clothes at the best of times but those just looked ridiculous.

"Ah, the clothes aren't important. It's to make chumps look imposing. You don't really need it outside formal occasions. Same goes for the suit." Garp added, vaguely gesturing at the red suit Luffy was wearing. "Long as you wear something that indicates you're a marine, it's fine. You're at the rank where no one will give you crap about how shiny your shoes are."

Luffy grimaced at the unpleasant memories that comment brought up. Several times had he been brought up on his untidy appearance. They never really managed to stomp his attitude out of him so he'd always backtalk. They'd give him a punishment, he'd refuse to go along with it, so they brought in someone who could _make_ him go along with it.

More than once, that someone had been Garp, hence the veteran marine bringing it up.

"You got your orders for your first deployment, _Captain_?" Garp asked, savouring the taste of that word. Literally glowing with pride, at this point.

Luffy couldn't and wouldn't hold back his grin on hearing that, sharing in the moment. "Leopold said something about patrolling the Grand Line entrance at Reverse Mountain. Six month assignment unless something changes."

"Mmmmm." Garp grunted, nodding in understanding. The nodding slowed. His head reared back and stayed there, a snot bubble appearing alongside a light snoring sound.

"Eh?" Luffy asked, noticing the noise. "Gramps?" Luffy asked turning around and seeing Garp sleeping standing up. "Hn." Luffy grunted, quietly whipping one of his legs around to sweep the old man's legs out from under him. His rubber leg made contact and... nothing happened, not that he really expected it to. Luffy's grandfather was strong. Unbelievably so.

It did succeed in waking the old man up though. "Uh? Ah!" Garp exclaimed with a snort. "Sorry, Luffy. Your assignment is so boring I fell asleep!"

"It's not so bad." Luffy argued, removing and throwing aside the captain's coat. "You probably think it's boring because you've been there thousands of times! This is still new for me! All my assignments were in the West or South Blue. This will be my first patrol on the Grand Line!" He exclaimed with an inhumanly wide grin. On receiving no response, Luffy looked at his grandfather again and found him once again, asleep. "Stupid old man."

-(-)-

 _Four months later_

"So where are we headed next, Leopold?" Luffy asked the marine next to him.

Commander Leopold Bruno was Luffy's executive officer. A dark-skinned man with curly brown hair that was just starting to grey. His build was rather lanky, just edging into 6 feet tall but rail thin. A career marine but without any particular combat aptitude, he took a more administrative approach in his methods, focusing on excellence in organising the rank-and-file seamen. At forty-three, this was likely as high up the ranks as he was ever going to get, especially with the marine's focus on fighting prowess when giving out promotions.

Still, he was an ideal counterpart to his Captain who couldn't organise his way out of a paper bag. In fact, Leopold had said as much once, and Luffy asked why he would need to organise his way out and why he couldn't just punch his way out. Enough said, really.

"We just received new orders, Captain." Leopold said.

"Ah?" Luffy grunted. "I thought we had another two months of patrolling. What gives?"

"On a need to know basis, I suspect." The XO answered. "We have been reassigned to the East Blue, effective immediately."

Luffy kept his face neutral. "Who are we assigned to?"

"The orders didn't say."

"For how long?"

"Until we are recalled."

Luffy's neutral mask crumbled rapidly, allowing a beaming smile through. Grabbing his XO, he started jumping around in joy, Leopold making no effort to join in. "You know what this means, Leopold?! Those dumbasses have given us free rein! I get to go home! We can do whatever we want!"

"That's not exactly-"

" _What. Ever. We. Want._ " Luffy repeated with emphasis, his smile taking a slightly more sinister appearance, with just a hint of the look of derangement that can only come from extended military service containing absolutely zero conflict.

Leopold sighed, resigned. "Aye, Captain."

"YAHOO! Set sail for the East Blue!"

-(-)-

A/N: I didn't hit my preferred word count for this chapter. But I can't think of anything to add that would fit.

So, with this being something of a timeskip/training montage, people will be asking power levels. As you read, Garp taught Luffy Kami-e, he knows that (and developed it a bit for his rubber body by necessity). Garp tried to teach him Soru but the process of learning it activated Gear Second entirely by accident. At which point, Garp decided to hold off on the Rokushiki and focus on getting the most out of Luffy's devil fruit. As such, he did not learn Shigan, Rankyaku or Geppou and Tekkai wouldn't even work very well if he did learn did not figure out Gear Third.

The OC Leopold is pretty much what you saw in the chapter. The long-suffering XO that puts up with Luffy's shenanigans and basically runs the ship. He does have character traits beyond that but we'll get to those.

So Fandom Flux is a thing. It's a youtube channel. We do a podcast talking about random shit but also writing. If you're a fan of One Piece stuff, Serpentguy is a regular on it.

Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

"Captain, as you know we have as of 0300 hours today finished our pass through the Calm Belt." Leopold recapped.

"We got to fight a sea king!" Luffy agreed, grinning.

"Y... Yes, we did." The XO tried to suppress his shudder. "But now that we have arrived in the East Blue, we need a heading for our next destination." With that, Leopold unfurled a rudimentary map of the East Blue. Since their reassignment was so sudden, they didn't have the opportunity to acquire a more detailed one. It outlined landmasses and Marine outposts. Nothing else. "Now, according to my estimation, we should have arrived in this ocean somewhere around... here." He pointed to the southern edge of the map, relatively close to the eastern edge of the Red Line.

"Mmmm," Luffy hummed to himself as he studied the map. "Looks like there isn't much around where we are. How are our supplies?"

"We have enough rations to keep us going to whatever destination we like in this sea. Wouldn't hurt to give the crew some shore leave, though."

"Right," Luffy agreed. "... We need a better map. And the best place to get one is the closest Marine base."

"On... the other side of this sea," Leopold observed, dryly.

Luffy shrugged. "I wasn't the one that left this part of East Blue a giant, empty ocean. We sail due north to the base, take a couple days shore leave, get a map with real settlements on it, get an idea of the big fish bounties, and go on a hunting trip across the sea!"

"It _would_ be good to have the new blood cut their teeth on some small fry," Leopold murmured.

The Marines chosen as Captain Luffy's crew – aside from himself – were actually rather green. "Fresh blood for our new up-and-coming Captain," the Rear Admiral had declared. The Captain had eaten it up. Not realising, not knowing or not caring that all that really meant was Leopold would have far more work keeping them in line. Or at least, that's how the latter had expected it to go. In truth, the Marines that had been selected might have been the most straight-laced, orderly crew Leopold had sailed with in a while. Possibly in an effort to impress.

Leopold was ecstatic.

Captain Luffy was miserable.

Leopold understood why. Spending just five minutes in a room with his Captain told him that the young man was excitable, friendly, cared nothing for propriety, and absolutely _craved_ social activity. That every sailor on the ship refused to hold a casual conversation with the Captain or do something fun without a direct order to do so was slowly driving him to despair. The only exception was Leopold. And while the Lieutenant might be more relaxed—too old to be a kiss-ass, in his own words—a fun-loving social butterfly he was not.

The most disciplined new crew to ever sail the Blues, and they end up with the most lackadaisical CO since Admiral Aokiji. The irony wasn't lost on him.

"Very well, Captain. I'll chart a course."

-(-)-

A few days passed. Boring, as had been the rule for their voyage so far. That was, until the crow's nest shouted a warning. "Three-mast ship off to starboard! Flying a black flag!"

"YOSH!" A shout was heard from within the Captain's quarters before the door was thrown open hard enough to rip it off one of the hinges. Going by his grinning face, Luffy didn't seem to care at all about the damage. "Finally, something interesting! All hands! Put us on course to intercept!" he bellowed before calling up to the crows nest with a hand to his mouth. "What are we dealing with?"

"Ugliest ship I ever seen, sir!" the Marine on watch answered. "Whole damn thing's painted hot-pink! Don't recognise their Roger! Crossbones, skull's in profile with a heart on it!"

Luffy's immediate thought was that maybe the ship was somehow related to Big Mom. His second thought was realising how dumb that first thought was. They couldn't be farther from her territory right now. "Comms, relay that to whatever Marine line you can raise. See if you can find out who we're dealing with," he ordered.

"Aye-aye, sir!" the comms officer, Ensign Cress, saluted before scurrying below deck to start making snail calls.

Luffy didn't notice, as he had stretched an arm to the top of the crow's nest before the order could even be acknowledged, launching him up beside the officer on lookout duty. She didn't even blink; it happened _a lot_. The nest being full, the Captain instead chose to stand on the lip of the bucket-like structure and held out a hand at the Marine. Obligingly, she handed her Captain the spyglass. Putting it to his unscarred eye, Luffy got his first look at what might be his first arrest while in command, tracking its position as the Marine vessel adjusted course to pursue.

His subordinate certainly wasn't wrong about it being ugly. Luffy wasn't a big fan of the green and black look Marine ships had from the seastone treatment but he could say with confidence it was far better than hot pink and—yes, now that they were gaining on it he could see—with hearts painted on the sails. "Yech," Luffy vocalised.

"Aye, sir," the lookout agreed. "They're runnin' half-sail so we should catch 'em quick. Even if they book it now... Well, she's a fat brig, sir."

"Fat Captain too," Luffy said, seeing the pirate Captain appear on deck. All pinks, purples and golds. Pointless, indulgent ostentation that an East Blue pirate certainly hadn't earned. As he watched, the rotund woman stopped to talk to one of her crew before smashing him with the iron club she was carrying.

Luffy's eyes narrowed. "All right, definitely going to kick _her_ ass. Ready your rifle, Marine. Aim to wound. No need for a slaughter today."

"Aye, sir," the lookout acknowledged, saluting from her position before accepting her spyglass back and taking up her rifle. Luffy dropped out of the crow's nest, grabbing the edge as he passed to slow his descent, his arm snapping back into place as he hit the deck. "Lieutenant Barker!" he... well, barked, as he headed down to the midship where the cannons were being prepped. He acknowledged his XO commanding the pursuit as he marched past.

"Aroo... Sir!" Barker saluted as his Captain approached. The Lieutenant was a young man in his mid-twenties with a muscular build, shaggy brown hair and jowls that did not belong on a man his age. All combined, the man looked like a human bulldog.

"Our cannons ready for a fight, Lieutenant?" Luffy asked using his 'official' voice.

"Aroo... We're still a gun down from that Sea King, Captain. But the other four are ready and waiting!"

"Fine work, Barker," Luffy praised. "We may not need them today, but forearms are for bears."

The Lieutenant's mouth opened and closed a few times as he ran that not quite idiom through his brain a few times before he gave up and simply said, "Aye, sir."

Luffy nodded sharply, glad his words of wisdom helped before he turned to head back to the aftcastle.

"Captain Luffy, sir!" the comms officer returned onto the deck. "Marine HQ just got back to us! The only crew in the East Blue that matches the description is the Alvida Pirates, bounty of ฿5,000,000!"

There was a chorus of disappointed groans from the crew. While Marines would not receive the full payment a bounty hunter could expect, they would still receive a fraction, approximately one fifth of it as incentive to properly dispense justice, ฿1,000,000 split fifteen ways was not the exciting amount they were hoping for.

"I know, I know!" Luffy shouted. "But it's not nothing, and it's only the first!" He noticed the ship was coming into range. It was close enough to see the pirate's crew. The large figure of Alvida herself only now seeming to notice they were being pursued. Her dozen or so crew were drawing steel and/or pistols.

"They're trying to bring her around for cannons!" Leopold barked. "We're coming into rifle r—"

BANG!

"Uhh..." Leopold was caught short as a bang from the crow's nest marked the firing of the lookout's rifle.

On the other ship, Alvida seemed to have crumpled, grasping at her right knee that was now a mangled mess.

There was a pregnant pause of a few seconds as the more experienced members of the Marine crew half-expected the rotund pirate to leap to her feet enraged.

That... didn't happen.

"Enemy Captain's down, sir!" the lookout shouted as though it needed to be said.

As the pirate ship's entire crew surrendered en masse, Luffy sighed sadly. So much for his fun time. Still, had to keep his crew happy. "Easiest million we ever made! Right, Marines?!" As a cheer resounded, Luffy gave the order to bring their ship alongside the pirates.

-(-)-

"Sir," Leopold saluted, standing at attention opposite his Captain across the map table in the Captain's cabin. The door was still hanging broken behind him, it being low on the priority list after dealing with their new prisoners.

"At ease," Luffy said before Leopold could fully raise his hand. He was still uncomfortable with the rigmarole of proper Marine professionalism. "So, what's going on?"

"Aye, sir," Leopold said as his posture relaxed. "Total number of arrests stands at ten. Frankly less than I expected for a ship of that size. Only one injury. Given her size and the nature of her injury, it's unlikely Alvida will ever be able to walk again. The ship, apparently named the "Miss Love Duck"—"

"There's a joke in there somewhere..." the Captain muttered.

The XO paused to allow his Captain chance to speak. Seeing no further comment forthcoming, he continued. "The ship is fully intact. Her hold contained a small amount of cash totaling ฿600,000 and a mass of valuables. Per standard procedure, the items will be logged in hopes of returning them to their owners, and the petty cash distributed to the crew. What are your orders regarding the ship itself, sir?"

"Maybe… Miss should've Ducked? Hmmm…" Luffy pondered.

"Sir?" Leopold prompted, Luffy looking up blinking. "The ship?"

"Oh!" Luffy exclaimed, slapping a fist into his palm. "Right! How long do we think until we reach the base?"

"At full-sail with the wind with us, we're maybe a little more than a half-day out. These pirates were... Well, given their performance, gutsy would be too generous; all I can call them is arrogant."

"Maybe," Luffy shrugged, wondering if the East Blue really was the weakest sea like everyone seemed to think. "Well, if the pirates could man that ship with eight I'm sure properly trained sailors can manage with six. Have Barker take a few sailors to crew her and follow after us. Maybe they can refit her. Sell her off or something."

The man nodded. "Aye-aye, sir. There is... One other thing, sir."

"Hm?" Luffy hummed.

"It's ah, one of the prisoners..."

-(-)-

"So, wait. You _accidentally_ joined a pirate crew?"

"All I did was get on a rowboat! How was I supposed to know it was headed for a pirate ship?!" the pink-haired boy whined.

"Was _she_ on it?" Luffy asked, hooking a thumb at Alvida, who was laid out with a makeshift splint on her leg. Fat lot of good that would do for a shattered kneecap.

"... Maybe," Coby half-admitted.

"You're dumb," Luffy stated like it was a fact of the universe.

The bespectacled cabin boy didn't deny it that time.

"So, why not leave if you hated it so bad?"

Coby audibly gasped. "No way! If I ever tried to leave, Alvida would hunt me down and crush me into paste with that giant mace of hers!"

The Marine nodded seriously. "Yeah. She seemed pretty hardcore for those five seconds I saw her before my lookout made her a peg-leg. Well... a peg probably couldn't hold her weight. Maybe a tree? Having a tree for a leg would be pretty cool..."

Not taking notice of the Marine's ongoing ramble, Coby spoke animatedly. "Well, of course you're not scared of her! You're a Marine! You're strong and brave and you protect people from evil pirates like her! That's why I always dreamed one day I would join the Marines and arrest her myself!" After that declaration the boy seemed to shrink in on himself. "Looks like that's out the window now, though."

"Huh?" Luffy grunted, only half listening as he dreamed of super-tough prosthetic limbs. "Oh, right. Can't really arrest her since we beat you to the punch."

Coby didn't say anything for a while. He was quiet for so long that Luffy started to wonder if the conversation was over. Just as he was about to turn and walk away, the boy's fists clenched.

"Captain Luffy, sir!" he shouted, his voice stronger than it had been for the entirety of their talk. "I-I would like... I m-mean I request permission to enlist in the Marines!" He couldn't keep the stutter out of his words and he knew he was shaking like a leaf, but he was determined to stand strong and look the Captain in the eye. He had been too scared to leave Alvida, but fate had been kind and given him an out. He would seize it for all it was worth.

"Eh? Ahhh..." Luffy sighed regretfully. "I like that look in your eye, but that's a tough thing. You're a pirate, and all I have is your word that you were press-ganged into it."

"Whatever it takes!" Coby shouted, surprising himself with the vehement interruption. "I'll do whatever I have to! I'll be a chore boy again! I'll do whatever crappy job needs doing! Being a Marine is my dream and if I have to crawl through garbage to achieve it I will! Whatever it takes to make sure that... that..." he swallowed loudly and hard. "THAT THAT FAT _BITCH_ DOESN'T RUIN MY LIFE!"

The boy was still shaking. He still looked terrified. Like a scared rabbit. But there was a sharper edge to it. A terrified, weak little rabbit... but one that would bite the hell out of you if it had to.

It was a start, Luffy decided with a grin.

-(-)-

A/N: So... Been about a year. Guess it's about time for another chapter.

Funny thing. I mentioned in the first chapter notes that this was something of a "put up or shut up" for a fic that had the same premise but clung to canon too hard. Well, two chapters is hardly enough to say I've "put up" yet. So we keep going. Onward to the horizon.

Big thanks to The Patient One (check out the collaborative fic he's working on: This Bites. A well deserved 7th place in the One Piece category right now), Cyberweasel89 and SpokenSoftly (again, check out The Few, The Proud, their collab fic on Sufficient Velocity). All three helped out when I was struggling to plot out where this story would go. I now have a rough plot outlined at least until Luffy's crew leaves the East Blue. Double thanks to Patient for also beta-ing this chapter. Pointed out a lot of the usual grammar mistakes I never bother to fix (punctuating speech to narration always trips me up).

Anyway. Plot. I seem to have a thing about bait-and-switching fight scenes. This is the second time I've done it recently. Still, it's about how one should expect this to go. An entire crew of Grand Line Marines against a pirate crew maybe just above trash tier for East Blue? Yeahhhh that was not going to be a protracted fight. It also seems my stance on Coby has softened somewhat.

Oh, almost forgot. Fandom Flux youtube channel. All of the above authors and then some hang out and chat about nonsense. Weekly random anime review show. Upcoming writing workshop show. Cool stuff. Check it out.

Thanks for reading.


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